


Learning the limits

by Mag7FandF_FanGirl (RannaFic)



Series: Adjustments and Accomodations [4]
Category: Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Corporal Punishment, Developing Relationship, M/M, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-30
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RannaFic/pseuds/Mag7FandF_FanGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ezra and Dom work out the details of their relationship when Ezra is working on a case in a jail</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of Ezra having an 'Ezra' cover identity is borrowed from Understanding Ezra (Perceptions and Observations) by JudyL

Dom pulled the door to Chris' office closed behind him and turned to face Ezra. Ezra felt a shiver run down his spine. Dom was clearly furious and it certainly did not bode well for him. He had been somewhat uneasy over his course of action but clearly he had underestimated Dom's ire. There was a part of him that wished he could blame Chris for his current predicament but in all fairness he was the only one to blame, especially since he had been the one to turn himself in. Dom moved towards him and Ezra could not help backing away, but all too soon he was stopped by the edge of Chris' desk. This was not going to be any fun at all. Ezra cast his thoughts back to this morning and wished he had approached this whole situation differently.

Chris was presenting their new case and it was a doozy. Ezra could not help but ask the same question again "Seriously in a jail?" Chris could not blame Ezra for his disbelief. Who would imagine guns being manufactured and distributed from a jail, but the information was very solid. "Yes Ezra the information is airtight. The problem is, how do we get the evidence." Chris scowled "I really need a good idea from you here Ez, Travis could only think of completely unacceptable ones and mine were probably impractical." Ezra started to ask what Travis had come up with and then paused, it was obvious with a little thought. "He wanted me to be finally exposed as corrupt. The FBI's reservations were to be proven judicious." Ezra's voice was soft but Chris could hear the fear and pain in it. "Yeah, but it's not happening Ezra. I am NOT putting you through that."

Ezra said nothing but he was rejoicing inside. Yes he could do it, but staging something like that would hurt. The thought of having his team reject him was painful, he was glad the idea was off the table. Perversely Chris' implacable tone made him want to push a bit, "I could give a believable performance if that was your concern." Chris looked at him "Ezra you could pull off anything you had a mind to. However I would just as readily shoot JD as do that to you, and in any case the boys would never pull off faking it, they are just not great actors. If we did not tell them the truth and tried to manufacture evidence to get them to believe it I doubt they would be convinced. Moreover if I did that to them, they would never trust me again." Ezra tried to interject, "I am sure we could explain .." "NO Ezra." Ezra subsided. Chris has developed a new tone, it was one which said "Continue and I'll be having a talk with Dom about this." Dom did not like being drawn into arguments about Ezra's work, particularly since Chris only brought him in when he thought Ezra was doing something that might get him hurt. Apparently Chris was really persuasive about such issues, because Ezra had only pushed back with Dom the first time it happened. After that he simply dropped the subject and listened when Chris took that particular tone. "So," Chris said "Any initial thoughts?" "Perhaps a couple of us could attempt to masquerade as corrections officers? We would have to be 100% sure of the sheriff. Which is somewhat problematic if something so egregious is occurring." Chris grinned, so Ezra was not going to push it, there were real benefits in his ability to handle Ezra coming out of this relationship with Dom, "Yeah. I agree. I was thinking along those lines but there are too many loose ends. So any other ideas?" Ezra laughed "As a matter of fact .." and then began to explain.

Chris was amazed, only Ezra would come up with the idea of going in as his own ATF cover identity. He looked at the picture again. "It should work. He's thinner than you but you could have gained weight or muscle. The shape of the face is a little off but it is plausible. The eye color will require contacts too, but fortunately your 'Ezra' wears them." Ezra smiled he had thought having an 'Ezra Standish' who openly worked at the ATF as an innocuous accountant would come in handy someday. Though he had not envisioned this. "What about the crime though? It has to be innocuous enough that a powerful friend could pull him out after two maybe three days but at the same time serious enough to explain some jail time before such a thing could be negotiated." They exchanged glances, the answer was obvious "Drugs!"

With the preliminary problems out of the way they could focus on logistics, unfortunately there was one thing that Ezra had to bring up. "Chris, we absolutely should not inform Dominic until the entire case is complete. In point of fact my preference would be to omit all mention of it permanently because he will be extremely displeased to put it mildly." Chris looked astonished "How exactly are you going to explain to Dom being out of contact for days?" Ezra smiled "You tell him you are going with me to a training seminar. Nothing he would need to worry about, located somewhere boring like Columbus. Look Chris to get in initially I will have to take off my anklets. They would never admit me to the jail with those. I do not believe Dominic will be readily amenable to such an action for a whole host of reasons not the least of which is that I would be without backup among gentlemen of dubious moral character. There is an element of risk here that might not be possible to mitigate. Dom's risk tolerance is extremely low when it comes to me." Chris' surprise was evident "But... He was going to be my backup plan. I thought Dom could walk in anywhere, anytime and demand you?" Ezra sighed "How would he prove I was his property if I was not wearing any evidence of it?" "Look I need to setup a few things to pull this off. Can we adjourn for a short interval? I will make every reasonable effort be back inside of an hour." Chris nodded his permission and Ezra slipped out of Chris' office without another word.

Chris sat for a minute, he knew Ezra was the best, if he thought the operation was risky then no doubt it was. However Chris had promised Dom he would never do something like this, lie to him about one of Ezra's jobs. Dom trusted him and the team with Ezra. If they lied to him about something Ezra thought was dangerous... he might well oppose Ezra continuing to work with them. He knew in Dom's eyes he had previously transgressed their agreement when he had let Ezra run off to the bridal shop unescorted and even though it had turned out to be the fortunate choice Dom had made it very clear he would take a dim view of another incident. However Chris knew Ezra needed to still be independent of Dom, to have his judgement trusted. Chris found himself pulled in opposite directions and conceded to himself he needed a second opinion. He decided Josiah would be the best person to approach, he trusted the profiler's wisdom. After he called Josiah into the office and explained the situation to him Josiah looked at him curiously. "You've talked to Dom before when Ezra has been contemplating doing something which might be dangerous to him. This seems a case of that if he says it is risky. Why is this different?" Chris struggled to explain, "I just bring Dom into an operation over procedure, to convince Ezra when he has to wear a vest or something really obviously for his safety. This is a strategic discussion. From what Ezra says Dom might forbid the whole operation ahead of time. That's something different." Josiah's voice was dry "Not really. Ezra is attempting to spin this to get you to take his side." He held up a hand to stop Chris' protest. "I'm not saying he is lying to you, he is right that Dom will not be pleased about us being unavailable for real backup, about removing the anklets, but did he say explicitly that the operation cannot be done with Dom's knowledge? No. That is significant. You are forgetting something basic here though. I see why you're agonizing over this. You're trying to balance Ezra's feelings with Dom's but that is not the issue at all. You have no choices here. Dom could bring charges against you just for removing the anklets without his permission. Do you understand the significance of that? If something happened to Ezra when he was doing this, without Dom's permission, with all the symbols of his status removed... You better hope you could cover it up if something happened because if it was discovered even Dom stating he did not blame you might not help." That was enough for Chris to make a decision. No they were not doing this.

Ezra returned after an hour and saw the team was all gathered in Chris' office. As he moved to join them he froze, Dom was standing next to Chris examining the preliminary information. Chris was finishing up his explanation about Ezra's strategy. "So getting him in is not the issue but getting him out is more problematic. We can get the guards to let us in eventually but they can legitimately stall. It could take as long as half an hour to get to him if they push it and a lot of bad things can happen in that amount of time." Dom's response was a surprise to Ezra "I guess that's why you're involving me directly right? I can get to him as fast as I can move so probably five minutes tops. I will admit that I wish we could avoid the strip search and removing his anklets but you're right, there is no way they would agree to hold a toy for even an hour. Once he's in we can count on bureaucracy to hold him another day or so after I show up cause they'll need to clear a lot of databases and paperwork, but not more than that." "Dominic I would appreciate a bit of clarification as to how you intend to convince the relevant authorities of my status and relationship with regards to yourself." Dom smiled at the surprise in Ezra's voice. "I thought you realized. Both prison officials and police err on the side of assuming a relationship with a reliable identification of one of the parties. The council database is available for search to them, so the names are enough, though there is usually a basic description. However jails and prisons will simply take a verified owners word for it since they bear even more responsibility for toys than police."

Ezra sighed, so it seemed he had been incorrect, and now he must pay the piper. He looked at Chris "You did not inform him of my original plan." Chris looked uncomfortable but did not pretend to misunderstand. "No. Josiah pointed out that just removing your anklets without permission was, for lack of a better word, illegal. Besides you have always said if we are getting a second opinion we should not muddy the waters so to speak." Dom looked from one to the other and his eyes flashed with anger "Explain that comment. Now!" Chris did not volunteer any information, he had not intended to tell Dom about the original plan at all, apparently Ezra had other ideas. Ezra looked at Dom, trepidation clear, "Please, not in front of them." Dom's voice was hard and controlled "Tell me." Ezra explained his plan to go forward while deceiving Dom, Dom clearly getting angrier with each new piece of information. Afterwards Dom looked at Chris "If I had found this out afterwards..., It is unlikely that I would have let him continue to work with you. If something had happened ..." he paused then, "I would not have filed charges, not even in that situation. If I did so they would kill your whole team just as a start. I would sure as hell have beaten the crap out of you though." That was the first time Chris had ever felt relief over an obvious and plausible threat. Dom looked at the rest of the team, "I don't really care at this moment what Sunny wants but you guys have done nothing wrong and I doubt you would find this enjoyable. Go have a nice long lunch, we can finalize the plan when you come back, though I can promise now that when I walk into the jail to find my missing toy my anger will be really immediate and believable" Ezra cringed at that, he had not been punished in public before. Dom's words were a promise that at least would change.

So here Ezra was in his boss' office of all places and he was more than sure Dom was going to make him really sorry for planning to deceive him. Dom took a dim view of Ezra doing anything that might result in any injury and Ezra had not fooled himself that his plan was not dangerous. Once he had figured out that Dom could prove ownership it was easy to come up with a plan where the risk to him was all but nonexistent. If he was honest with himself he had to admit that he had always guessed it would be possible for Dominic to prove that he owned a toy matching his description. In fact they would probably be able to get direct evidence this way and though as an officially recognized toy he would be unlikely to testify, it would be unnecessary. Even the defense lawyers would allow Dom to testify in his place. Dom said only one word "Why?" "I did not know for sure you could prove it but I suppose that is not what you are asking." "No." Ezra shivered again, one word sentences were not at all a good sign. "I just, my debt to Chris is such that I find it difficult to let him down and I did know you would not press charges with the council or engage in homicidal actions towards Chris if something went wrong." "Ezra Standish!" OK Clearly he was making things worse with his prevarication. "I wanted to prove I was still independent. That I could still make choices myself. I was going to tell you afterwards. I did not think it would precipitate you forbidding me my job or my friends but, I think maybe...." "You wanted to know for sure." Dom approached. Ezra stayed where he was mostly because there was no place to go. "I swear to you Sunny on my life, on Mia's, on my fathers grave I will never forbid you from being with your friends. I have not and I will not prevent you from being an agent as long as you want to be and take all sensible precautions. I do not promise I will not forbid you a particular case or a particular strategy. Good enough." Ezra smiled. He might be about to find out if the expression 'not able to sit down for a week' was literal or not but Dom would never break an oath like that for anything." Suddenly an apology was easy. "Sir, I'm sorry. I should not have contemplated such a thing." Then he smiled "Do I get any points for confessing on my own?" "Yeah, I had your team leave didn't I." Ezra sighed and turned to face the desk. "Let me not continue to delay the inevitable."


	2. Jail Time

The guards were not sure to make of the new prisoner. He seemed a mousy thing, dark brown hair and eyes, always slumped and quiet. He was clearly jumpy, leary of all the other prisoners and refusing eye contact with everyone guard and prisoner alike. He had been brought in by the police in a drug sweep at the house of a known cocaine dealer but was much more well dressed than the other drug users. Furthermore he seemed to have nothing to say to anyone. The police did not even have a name for him. There was no id when he was arrested and he refused to state his name. He demanded a phone call immediately but had used it apparently to call in sick to work, rather than call a lawyer or something sensible. They had put him in with one of the younger prisoners, a hard eyed 18 year old thinking that at least the kid would not make a move on him. The sheriff in charge of the jail prided himself on the fact that there were no incidents of abuse of any kind at his facility. He accomplished this by making sure that the prisoners were correctly grouped and ensuring that rather than spending his budget monitoring communal areas the private areas like cells and showers were monitored instead. However sometimes they made mistakes in grouping prisoners and the pairing of the new prisoner had been one of those times. To their surprise reviewing the tapes later that evening the kid had approached the new prisoner with a swagger, pinning him and forcing a kiss. The prisoner had said something to him that had made the kid back down apologizing. When the guards came to investigate neither would discuss it so they locked down for the night thinking this would bear more investigation in the morning.

Dom drove up to the jail just before noon. With Chris' help he had laid a very credible trail starting from Ezra's "boss" in the ATF accounting department to the cops who had done the drug sweep last night. He was sorry he had terrified the cops but it was necessary to establish how he had found Ezra. If he did not miss his guess there was a very irate police captain calling up the sheriff as he was driving there. He did not anticipate any problem when he arrived. He walked to the front and got the full VIP treatment. "Mr Toretto, I assure you we will do our best to assist you. We would never, have ..." Dom cut the man off "I don't think you're an idiot. I'm very sure there was no indication whatsoever and he was probably dressed like a damn accountant. Not a surprise since he is an accountant - for now. Just show me your John Doe." Dom was led into the visitors room and scanned the crowd, then he saw Ezra being led in the other door. Ezra took one look at him, gasped in obvious fear, and made a break for it past the guard. The guard made a grab for Ezra and paused at his boss' panicked "No!" allowing Ezra to slip past him back into the cell blocks. Dom grinned, so Ezra had decided he did not want a public show huh. Well Dom was still angry and was going to fully express it before he was done. With a quick aside to the sheriff "Yeah it's him" he took off after Ezra.

The sheriff bolted for the PA system. He was not going to get his guards beaten or worse if he could help it. Soon his voice rang out through the jail. "Attention all personnel. The new John Doe is a registered toy. His owner is on the premises. Provide all assistance." Then he put the jail on automatic lock-down and started the paperwork for a dismissal of all charges. God he hoped the district attorney had been briefed.

Ezra ran. He knew he couldn't stay ahead of Dom forever but he just had not been able to face Dom disciplining him in that room full of people. He headed to the gym, maybe if he was lucky it would be mostly empty. Most of the prisoners were outside at this time of day. He shot through the doors, and heard the announcement over the PA. Damn! The doors back into the main cell blocks would be locked now. That would slow Dom down but limited his choices to pretty much here or outside, maybe a couple of the cells on the way out. He glanced around the gym it was still too crowded for his liking perhaps 12 people were milling around. He dashed for the other door and was amused to see most of the other prisoners scatter. A couple of the enterprising younger men stepped forward, he slowed, he couldn't let them touch him. Dom would be forced to beat them half to death if they touched him now and neither of them wanted that. Then he heard the gym door bang open behind him and glanced back. Dom was faster than he would have guessed. The enterprising young men took one look at Dom and moved out of his way. He dashed out the other door at the back. He'd try for one of the cells.

Dom's anger was burning off with the wash of adrenaline, probably what Ezra was counting on. He was still undecided as to whether he was going to get it over with the minute he caught Ezra or drag him back to someplace public. He saw Ezra duck into one of the cells lining the corridor before the door which led outside and followed him in. Ezra was backed into the corner panting and looked up obviously dismayed when Dom entered. "Sir, I assure you that I did not intend any disrespect. If you will recall I was in fact not in defiance of any orders when I left the vicinity of the visitors lounge. I am not attempting to evade your right to discipline me as you choose. I simply preferred a more private venue." Dom smirked, amused. Ezra certainly had a reasonable argument. He had not in fact called out for him to stop. He would have lost respect if Ezra had refused to stop when ordered, which would have been enough to force Ezra to halt if he had just thought about it. "If I were to ignore your preferences and demand we go back to the visitor lounge?" There was no hesitation "I would accede to your wishes. Though if I may be so forward may I suggest that you would certainly cause some discomfort for the visitors present who might require an explanation from the corrections officers as to why they are allowing such an action." Dom laughed "Yeah you're probably right. I think the gym is an adequate compromise don't you? No awkward explanations, marks my territory, and you'll really hate it won't you. Need to do something to make sure you never, ever do something as stupid as this again. You understand?" Ezra flinched. While the likely listening guards would have one interpretation of that statement Dom was pretty sure Ezra was getting the real message. Ezra's "Understood" was subdued but clear. Dom stepped back and let Ezra precede him out the door then walked behind him as he made his way to the gym.

Ezra knew there was no putting this off any longer. He shivered, Dom was performing for a hardened audience and needed to impress them. He was starting from a position of weakness since Ezra just being here without his say so was a problem. This was likely to be unpleasant and it did not help that he could tell Dom was still angry over his idea to come here alone and unprotected. He walked to the nearest wall and braced himself but Dom had other ideas. "Oh no little one, you are not going for anything as dignified as that." He pulled over a chair "Over this." Ezra grimaced he hated the indignity of being bent over a chair like a recalcitrant child. However he made no protest just took the required position. He heard a whistle from one of the other prisoners. Dom whirled around, stalked over and punched the man in the face dropping him like a stone. The gym grew quiet at that. Dom pulled off his belt, "Let's start with 40 shall we?" When it was finally over Ezra curled up in Dom's lap crying as Dom gently kissed away his tears. The belt had hurt, but the humiliation when Dom had pulled him over his lap and given him another 20 smacks on top of the lashes with the belt had been almost as bad to Ezra. Eventually his sobs stopped and he remained curled up on Dom's lap unwilling to move. He watched as Dom pulled collar, cuffs and anklets out of his pocket and did not react as Dom fastened them all on. Dom seemed willing to let him take comfort now that it was all over and he was not in a hurry to do anything. They both figured that someone would likely try and contact him to use as a go between as quickly as possible, as it was fairly obvious that the people involved were new to gun dealing and manufacture and an untouchable toy could visit the prison and smuggle anything in or out with impunity. Finally Ezra fell asleep curled in Dom's arms.

"Mr Toretto" the voice was quiet but Ezra shifted at the sound. Dom glared at the sheriff and then with a surge stood up with Ezra in his arms. "Where can I put him? He'll sleep for a while if he's not disturbed. He damn well better not be either." The sheriff led him to an out of the way cell near the jail's clinic. "We usually reserve this for injured prisoners." Dom looked around. "Well he's not injured exactly but I would say he's in pain. If the doctor's around he can take a look at my boy when he wakes up. So next order of business is obviously when can I take him home?" The sheriff looked relieved "Mr Toretto, I am relieved that you are at least aware enough to realize it can't be immediately" Dom snorted "He shouldn't have been in the damn system to begin with. I imagine erasing a paper trail might need at least 24 hours." The Sheriff grimaced "We will absolutely try. I can promise not more than 48 but better than that is not possible to guarantee." Dom sighed "It's not my preferred solution but I can stay with him if that will make it easier for you?"

The Sheriff was thrilled. If there was a way to avoid the responsibility for this situation he was more than happy to take it. "I would appreciate it. We will of course do our best if you leave." Dom laughed at that "You'll defend him with your lives if I leave but that is not necessary since I will be here." The Sheriff winced "I apologize, I did not mean to imply anything less." Dom did not appear offended "Hey I'm an easygoing guy" at the Sheriff's look of disbelief and glance at Ezra he laughed. "OK maybe not always, but I can understand not wanting to sacrifice your life or your men's lives for a random stranger. You're in a position you pretty much never signed up for since you're not a prison, but there's no exception for that since generally toys are not idiotic enough to run around unclaimed. Anything else you want to confide while I've got most of my anger taken care of? I'm prepared to give your men a pass on past behavior as long as no one got too frisky with him." The Sheriff thought about it. None of his men had done anything inappropriate, the question was whether to mention the kid. "Would you hold me responsible for the actions of one of the other prisoners, given that we had no idea what your toy was?" Dom's eye's flashed with sudden anger. "Are you telling me someone assaulted him?" "No! Nothing like that. We do not tolerate that here anyway. We put him in with a kid that we thought was safe and the kid, well basically stole a kiss. I imagine he told the kid his status then cause he backed off and never came near him again." Dom growled "Introduce me to this kid."

Jame had never been so terrified in his life. He still wasn't sure what had made him decide to put a move on his cellmate. He supposed it was as simple as being attracted to the good looking man he had seen camouflaged by the mousy exterior. Now this giant of a man had beaten him into the ground with barely two punches and then took a belt to him. Now he was standing over him, clearly contemplating murder. Then just as the man drew back looking as though he was going to kick in his ribs he heard the voice of his former cellmate. "Please, he's just a child." Jame did not like being called a child but since it seemed that currently the alternative was to be killed he would take it. He watched the man turn towards the voice and nearly gasped, if he had thought the man was good looking before now he was stunning. His hair was no longer limp but fell in large curls about his face and he had cinched the waist of his pants tight showing a trim waist and removed the sleeves showing slender but well muscled arms. There was no mistaking what he was either. There was a wide gold collar around his neck and thick gold cuffs on both wrists. "Dominic, Sir, please" his voice had changed too. Before it had been quiet unobtrusive. Now there was a seductive honey drawl just begging for attention. Jame shifted and the beautiful man looked at him in clear irritation but said nothing to him at all. The big man, Dom grinned, "So Sunny you do have some sense of decorum after all. You should be grateful that I'm not beating the hell out of everyone who touched you." A beautiful name, Sunny, he felt it rise to his lips, and suppressed it in panic. That guy Dom would kill him for sure. "I was as careful as possible given the circumstances. The kid had no idea I was claimed, he backed off the instant I informed him of the situation. I know I have no credit with you at this instant but.., please do not make me the agent of a child's death." The bigger man sighed and held out his hand and the toy stepped forward kneeling gracefully at his feet, head bowed under the hand. "You have no credit with me but I'm sure you'll work on it." He kicked but it was gentle and rolled Jame over. "Kid you come near him again and I'll break your little baby neck, got it" Jame backed off slowly and ran for it. 

Dom turned to the sheriff who was watching impassively. "That it?" The sheriff nodded, looking relieved. Dom would bet he would not have wanted to explain how his formerly excellent facility had lost an 18 year old while in custody. Dom grabbed Ezra by the back of his neck, pulled him up and then tossed him over his shoulder ignoring Ezra's squawk of indignation. "We'll be busy for a little while. My toy here needs to work off that little debt he just incurred. Oh and by the way, turn off your damn cameras."


	3. Contact

Dom was watching Ezra sleep when there was a light knock on the bars. He looked up and saw one of older guards and a prisoner beckoning. He moved just far enough away so a quiet conversation would not wake Ezra up, but made sure Ezra never left his line of sight. "Mr Toretto we have a business proposition for you." Dom was careful to react as he would have if he had not been expecting this approach. He scowled at the prisoner. "I am just visiting so I am not interested in joining up with any gang." The man smiled "We are aware. That is what makes you useful to us and I promise you will be well rewarded." Dom made sure he sounded calm but not completely dismissive. "Really, what exactly are you offering and what makes you think I would be interested" "We can greatly improve your financial situation though not to the extent of the millions you had before. We have a little business which makes some very valuable products, never mind what for now, but distribution has been a problem. However if you were to send your toy in as a visitor, well no one would dare touch him. Then you could simply deliver the packages to our external contact." Dom had to admire the elegant simplicity of the plan. "So what kind of money are we talking about, specifically?" "We would provide you with four thousand a month. Moreover we have some pull with the FBI. We could get your brother in law his old job back." That caught Dom's attention, this was not simple gunrunning. "Sounds too good to be true. Why pay so much for a courier?" "Our biggest problem has been distribution. We send out packages when a prisoner is released, sometimes with a few of the guards, but still we have had to be careful, lots of bribes to look the other way, too many people involved. You solve that problem" "What is Sunny's excuse for visiting month after month" "Perhaps he made friends in jail? Truely do you think anyone will question him? You will be notified who he should ask for." "No one touches him." "We are not suicidal Mr Toretto we know the guards will defend him with lethal force if you are not present" Dom grinned "Mister you have got yourself a deal" The two men backed away "Have him come next week and ask for Jack Hendricks. By the way Mr Toretto we were impressed at your ferocity at defending what was yours, but make no mistake we will defend what is ours with equal force. Your toy may be untouchable, but your sister, your brother in law, even you are not. You are a great convenience but do not make the mistake of double crossing us and going into business for yourself." Dom had been waiting for the threats, "I will let that go since you did not threaten my property, but you will find my family can defend itself. You may tell Mr Grenadine not to threaten me or mine again." Dom waited to see if Ezra's guess was right. Ezra had not been 100% certain but he had been pretty sure. The guard's mouth dropped open in surprise "How the hell did you know?" Dom smiled "Sunny did not particularly want me to find him and any guard would have contacted me immediately. He wanted to know the best person who would not have the means to contact me immediately but could provide protection if it became necessary." Dom turned away then, "Now if you do not mind, I'd like some privacy with my toy."

Ezra yawned and rolled onto his back, then he rolled off it even more rapidly "Ow!" He looked around the cell and saw Dom apparently asleep. He got up, started moving towards the door, and felt a hand clamp on his wrist. "You have my permission to leave?" Damn, Dom was still apparently intent on reigning him in. He had to admit that he understood better now that he realized even his risk assessment had been an underestimate. The jail was well run and he was now certain the sheriff was not involved but he had identified enough corrupt guards that he would have been in serious trouble if they had caught him snooping and been unaware of his status. In fact it had been the knowledge Dom was going to show up that had kept him careful enough not to get caught. He had figured Dom would take a dim view of him getting in trouble. "I was just ..." Dom scowled at him "You were just leaving, without my permission, that is not the kind of thing I would expect after your lesson yesterday. Guess you need another one. What do you think?" Ezra squirmed he could not tell how much of this was for any possible audience and how much was honest annoyance. He had never lied to Dom, had never been able to, though he did not feel obliged to always provide the complete truth. He decided he was not in a position to be less than completely honest, and a large dose of respect would not hurt either. "Sir I apologize. I am not used to needing permission and I was not thinking. If I never have another lesson like that one it would be immensely appreciated." To his relief Dom snickered and released his wrist. "Stay by me. I had a very interesting business proposition last night but they ended it with threats, though only if I double cross them and only against Brian and Mia, and of course me. However knowing that means they did some research on me and very fast. I am not interested in finding out whether they are willing to test how well I protect you." Ezra could not believe it. He had slept through the whole approach? "Well in the interest of being able to sit down tomorrow I will accede to your request that I not leave your side." Dom's eyes flashed, "Request huh." Ezra was over his lap almost before he could draw breath and swiftly found himself on the receiving end of quite a painful spanking, given that he was still sore from yesterday. When Dom finally released him he decided he was not going to push again until they were well out of here.

Ezra stood up, and found himself looking into the face of the sheriff. He felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment. "Mr Toretto I came to let you know that the DA will have tracked down all the loose paperwork by this afternoon. So you can leave this evening." Dom frowned "I had things to do today but I guess they can wait. If you would excuse us perhaps we could get back to what you interrupted." Ezra gave a visible shiver but to Dom's surprise the sheriff frowned. "Mr Toretto you might want to try a little gentleness too. People sometimes do stupid things when they are scared. Your toy did not call you immediately when he was arrested or when he was processed into the jail. Obviously I do not know how your toy ended up wandering off by himself in the first place, but drug use is driven by the desire to escape. You might think about why he would want to do that. If you will excuse me." Dom commented as they watched the sheriff stalk off. "Why Sunny you have a fan." Ezra was miserable "I attempted to stay away from everyone and out of trouble. My most sincere apologies." He could not be explicit here that he was apologizing for his initial plan but knew Dom would understand his meaning. Dom seemed surprised "Hey remember our rule. You've been punished now, at this point in full, and it's over, you don't need to worry about it anymore. You'll need to be more respectful than normal here though. I was just reminding you of that OK?" Ezra smiled. "I shall endeavor to be as respectful as possible."


	4. The pickup

Vin was waiting as Dom and Ezra walked out of the jail. Dom had called and asked Chris to have one of the team pickup his car and then meet them when Ezra could finally leave. Ezra took one look at Vin's Jeep and started complaining but Dom simply hopped in and Ezra finally followed. Dom understood part of the reason Ezra was complaining, though he knew he would not articulate it to Vin and pulled Ezra into his lap. Vin's suspension was not the best. Ezra flushed but did not protest further even when Vin got a knowing look. Thankfully Vin refrained from commenting. Vin drove them back to Chris' place as agreed, they were interested in seeing if anyone would try and follow Dom and it was impossible to track someone to the ranch without being easily visible. Either no one was following or they knew enough about the roads out of town to realize when they would be obvious. As Vin drove up to the ranch he saw Chris waiting for them outside, he smiled at that, Chris was always antsy when Ezra was undercover. Usually Ezra did not go out of contact undercover without one of the team to back him up and though obviously Dom would protect Ezra as well as one of the team Chris had been nervous. As usual Chris did not address his anxiety when he saw Ezra safe, instead his only comment was "Well?" Dom's response was equally short though in his case it was just to annoy Chris. "Success" Ezra laughed. Apparently Dom got just as much pleasure out of tweaking Chris' tail as he did. "Mr Larabee, the criminals have made contact and we have discovered the identity of the main perpetrator. However we have encountered a small wrinkle as it appears that there is a contact in the FBI who certainly must be discovered. We will need to continue this charade until we have contacted him. I feel certain he is the outside distribution source as we felt it was someone in law enforcement." "Oh great just what we need another reason to tangle with the FBI. Can we confirm the sheriff's lack of involvement?" "Most certainly. I saw a great many precautions being taken and they would not be necessary if the sheriff were involved." "Well that's something." Chris changed the topic "You and Dom get things sorted finally?" Dom growled at that but Ezra hushed him "Dominic's position on my initial plan was in fact correct. I underestimated the danger inherent in the situation since it is not an environment with which I am familiar. In fact I would likely have been caught with perhaps severe consequences if his admonishment had not resulting in my taking more care in my investigations than I had originally planned." Ezra flushed "I do not appreciate Dominic's method of correction but I will admit to its effectiveness. Indeed to be completely fair it is occasionally a relief to let go of any need for guilt or personal recrimination since punishment has been dispensed. In this case I would perhaps have felt concerned that Dominic would hold my actions against me for a substantial period of time but given the ah... strength and longevity of his corrective actions I am certain that all issues are now dealt with." Chris and Dom exchanged glances at that and then burst out laughing. "Ezra," Chris chuckled "you have a very long way of saying yes."

Dom was for once sitting in on a planning meeting with Travis and he was unaccountably nervous. He knew just how much Ezra's job meant to him, and did not want to come across as too controlling, especially since that had been a big issue the last time they met. At the same time he knew the most about jails or prisons and their dangers and was determined to keep Ezra safe. Chris began "So Ezra has to go into the prison alone again as himself" Dom interjected quickly "As a variant of his Sunny persona actually, the more elaborate the outfit the less likely anyone is to take notice of any minor discrepancies. Whether they have access to the phone records on the call here to the ATF determines whether they will be checking ATF databases for information. It is likely they have access in which case the 'Ezra Standish' persona that any database search finds in ATF has a picture associated with it that is amazingly blurry. It is of course not Ezra, but is close enough that a basic description will match both of them barring a few specific features like eye color. Most importantly it is just possible that it could be a very bad picture of Ray who hangs out with the racers. The eye color is not an issue because Sunny has been known to wear contacts of all colors from blue to more exotic colors like purple. Green eyes could be just another attempt to spice up his regular brown eyes. No one who knows him as Sunny will be surprised by his look at the jail and the subtle differences between him and the picture are easily overlooked. Fortunately the description in the council database is pretty vague and interestingly enough does not include eye color." Ezra smiled, "I like to be prepared for any eventuality." Travis kept a smile off his face with some difficulty. "Mr Toretto are you sure Ezra will be safe walking into and out of the jail without you there?" "Absolutely, as long as he is as obvious as possible and obviously um tagged no one will touch him. They likely will not even question him though he was provided with a cover story just in case." "Tagged?" Travis sounded perplexed. Ezra flushed bright red. "There are certain pieces of 'jewelry' for lack of a better word, which are reliable indicators of my status as a protected possession of some dominant individual. Such markers would never be forged since it would be treated as a crime by the council. Depending on the reason for the forgery it might even be treated as a capital offense." Travis still looked puzzled until Chris leaned over and whispered quietly in his ear. "Oh, really? oh" Travis flushed and then changed the subject.

"So given that our expert thinks he is safe then the concern is actually with the meeting to hand over the merchandise." Chris responded "We cannot use the police as backup because they would be likely to simply shoot the FBI agent if he so much as touches Ezra and we are not sure how high up this goes. We need backup however since all indications are a well run operation which means a large public place for the exchange. Covering a large area would be difficult with just team 7. Our preferences are always teams 5 and team 8 but they both are busy. We could bring in team 3 and team 12 but" Dom interrupted Chris with a scowl "No. I remember team 5's initial reaction to our relationship. It took long enough to get them sorted out and they like Sunny. The undercover agents on 3 and 12 like Sunny but the leaders and some other team members do not. Given the current state of negotiations and training at the FBI, something I am kindly informed of monthly by the Denver police chief since the last time I was involved in an operation with Sunny, I am well aware that allowing him to interact with an unknown agent puts him at risk since he would be with someone who might potentially be ignorant enough to take him hostage. I realize Ezra would not file a complaint that I did not protect him but letting him walk into a situation like that is breaking our contract. You know what he's given up for me. The least I can do is ensure I don't violate our contract terms." Travis was watching the argument with consternation. He had not seen anyone stand up to Chris with such vehemence before. Chris glared then glanced at Ezra who shifted uncomfortably under his stare and then flinched as the movement obviously caused pain. Chris sighed at this visible reminder of just how much agency Ezra had lost and then turned to Travis. To AD Travis' surprise Chris capitulated. "Dom's right. We can't ... he can't put Ezra at risk which leaves us in a quandary." Travis stood saying abruptly "I see no problem. Teams 8 and 5 will back you up. You can use the trigger happy policemen as an outer ring. I will assure the teams that your case has priority. Corruption in Federal agents must be pursued and that is the end of the matter. Thank you for your help Mr Toretto. Let us hope that for once things go as smoothly as planned."

Dom drove Ezra up to the front of the jail and watched him get out and saunter carelessly through the entrance. It had taken the two of them quite a while and a lot of back and forth negotiation to agree on how this contact should be handled. The main source of contention was how Ezra should behave. Dom had explained that in this case, if he wanted to be as forgettable as possible, he needed a certain amount of flash. Ezra had caught on quickly to the fact that for the guards and other prisoners the faster they categorized him as 'toy', the faster they would look away and the less attention they would pay to his features. No one particularly wanted to be caught staring at someone else's property. It also helped to make sure that the collar and cuffs were clearly on display. The outfit they had eventually settled on was a short sleeve V neck shirt in a deep royal purple paired with skin tight jeans dyed an eye catching deep sea blue. The combination was eye catching but also screamed money and set off Ezra's slightly darkened version of his normal hair and the new brown eyes to perfection. Ultimately they had both been satisfied.

Unfortunately they could only come to a partial agreement on how Ezra should behave. Ezra had initially wanted to play it as low key as possible, rather like the way he had been at the jail before Dom showed up. Dom was adamant that he add some swagger, since he was now acknowledged as a toy he needed to walk as though he was untouchable, and knew it. They had been able to come to an agreement on that but Dom also wanted him to refuse any attempts to get within touching distance of anyone, guard or prisoner. Ezra flatly refused to agree to that, wanting the flexibility to adapt to whatever circumstances dictated. Dom had attempted to explain the history behind his position, telling Ezra, "I know you Sunny, you like to follow your own instincts. Here though there are very clear rules. Initially the only time a toy would ever be alone was if his owner and all their crew were thrown into solitary. Generally that would leave the toy unprotected and hence the contract broken so the toy would find another owner. However some toys did not want to terminate their contracts in such circumstances and if someone approached them they would end up in a fight. Since fights are inherently risky the guards demanded that to prevent them toys should have a protocol for indicating a lack of availability. If the a toy is not interested then when unaccompanied they simply do not allow anyone within arms reach. However as always some people started to push the system, allowing other prisoners within their space, and then fighting, naturally getting the other prisoner into trouble both with the guards and with the toy's owner. That was considered provoking and as such it was agreed in these cases the toy would be punished, 50 strokes with a belt, no excuses, no exceptions. So if you allow anyone within your personal space they are going to misinterpret it and I'm going to have no choice but to punish you immediately since this parking lot is monitored and that is what the guards will expect to see. I doubt either of us want to go through that."

Despite Dom's explanation Ezra would still not give his word that he would follow Dom's strictures since in his opinion Dom was disinclined to allow anyone in the jail near him for personal reasons. In his reasoning "The principals involved are not going to make a move on me since they need me to remain attached to you for this to work. However they may need to reassure themselves that I am not so inflexible as to be afraid to even allow them to come near me." After much argument Dom let it go but he told Ezra "You can close this deal without violating the rules but if you do and one of these guys gets confused and touches you, you will have put me in the position of having no choice but to punish you. However you have to promise me you will fight immediately even if someone just touches you or we are not going through with this at all." That at least Ezra was willing to promise so Dom with some trepidation agreed to allow the meet to take place.

The instructions which Dom had received in the mail were very explicit. Ezra was to enter the jail between 2 and 4pm and walk straight through to the holding area at the back. He would be buzzed past any doors in the way. Once he was at the gym he was to pause, wait for 15 minutes and then proceed outside. There he would be met by Hendricks and his compatriots and would be given a plain package. He was to take the package and walk straight out the way he had come in. Then the next day he was to deliver the package to their FBI agent at Washington Park. Ezra doubted it would be that simple, it never was, but he was willing to hope. However now he was wearing the obvious collar and cuffs he could not imagine anyone approaching him. For the most part he never wore them out of the house but a couple of times Dom had requested it when there was another racer around who had a strong grudge against Dom. When he had been wearing such visible 'tags' the other racers, even those who were Dom's good friends, had pretty much avoided even glancing at him. He supposed the problem was the rules made no sense to him. He had asked Dom for example why if the problem was someone attempting to engage with him sexually Dom had not punished him after he found out about the kid in jail. Dom's explanation was that the kid had not even known he was a toy and had been completely unaware that he belonged to anyone. Apparently the toys had argued that it was not fair for them to be punished if the other prisoner did not know what they were. If a prisoner was not aware he was approaching a toy he was likely to be more aggressive than perhaps a toy could handle. That made some sense to Ezra but only further reinforced his opinion that he was perfectly safe from advances with his 'jewelry' and the knowledge that he belonged to Dom. He wanted this case to go through since he took the idea of a corrupt FBI agent personally after all the accusations against him.

Hendricks hung around the yard with Richards, waiting for the toy to show. He was impressed at how quickly his boss Charlie had moved to get this perfect, untouchable, distribution network set up. Even if the cops found out about it they would never get their hands on any evidence, because nothing on earth would convince them to arrest a toy. When the whistle went off he and Richards made sure to drag their feet just enough that their guards were able to allow the other prisoners back in the jail and then close the doors before they passed through. One of the guards on their payroll, Wickers stayed behind. Richards growled at him that they could handle this but Wickers indicated that it was Grenadine's orders and thinking about it it became obvious the guards would have insisted one of them be present given that every goddamn one of them would die screaming if something fatal happened to the toy while he was in their custody. The toy walked in and brushed close by Richards, almost close enough to touch. Richards eyes gleamed and he whistled. Wickers shifted uneasily but he didn't do anything. To Hendricks dismay the toy did not react but continued to ignore Richards and allowed him to follow close behind him, obviously in his space. "God damn it Richards, you take that kid we lose our perfect outside distribution." Richards looked at him and Hendricks could tell he did not care. "I get that, thing is, he's the prettiest thing I've ever seen. If he's open to me getting him I don't care about Mr Grenadine or anyone else. They got nothing that can compare with him" Hendricks did not know what to say to that one, it was certainly true. Richards approached more closely slowly but still the toy was not backing him off. Hendricks could not believe it. After all this anticipation it was all going to be ruined, either because the toy liked the look of Richards or because he just wanted a new protector. "Hey baby, like what you see huh? I'll be good to you I promise, won't share you much. Won't be like him and punish you in front of every god damn person. Even let you have a little of the good drugs." Hendricks heart sank as the kid cocked his head at the last comment. He watched as Richards approached and then, in an instant, all was right with his world. Either Richards had moved too fast or the toy was a tease, but when Richards had grabbed him and pushed him back into the fence, pawing him the toy had fought like a little wild cat. Seeing the toy's reaction Wickers had moved with amazing speed. Pulling Richards off him and felling him with a blow to the head with his night stick. Hendricks was sorry for Richards but was really glad they still had their pipeline. It would probably be best to make sure Richards was not present for any more drops though. Richards was on the ground bleeding and spitting curses. To Hendricks amusement the toy seemed just as irate if his "ignorant neanderthal" remarks meant anything.

Hendricks stepped forward and left the package on the ground several feet away from the toy and backed off to watch him pick it up. Perhaps the toy just had never been approached before. Given the sheer size of Toretto Hendricks could actually believe it. Hendricks started laughing as the toy looked around and asked the guard "Perchance there is a back way out of the jail. One that does not require exiting into the parking lot." It took Richards longer to figure it but when he did his face broke into an evil grin. "Oh I'm gonna enjoy this you little tease. Gonna watch from the guard room. Bet Toretto has a real heavy hand, you're gonna be crying by 10 strokes aren't you." The toy's lack of response indicated that Richards was likely right. Hendricks felt a moment of sympathy for the toy. If he had known what he was doing, well he would certainly pay for it. Wickers was not even pretending to go along with the toy. "Kid I am delivering you direct to your owner. I am not taking the fall for this and I'll be sure he knows it. Nothing else is going wrong, you're getting a direct escort and that is the end of it." Hendricks watched as Wickers escorted the kid out, staying as far from him as possible, ah well it did not go as smoothly as planned but no permanent harm done.


	5. Chastisement

Ezra walked as slowly as possible through the jail thinking furiously. Unfortunately he could not come up with any idea which would get him out of this. The news of Dom's toy being imprisoned and then approached was bound to leak out one way or another and if he wasn't punished for it that would completely destroy any respect for Dom in the racing community. He knew that racing was as important to Dom as his job was to him but he really, really did not want to face Dom on this one. He wished profoundly that he had just listened to Dom. Normally his arrogant assumption that he knew how to do his job better than anyone else was correct, but it was apparent that he just did not know enough of the rules here, worst of all it was through willful ignorance. He vowed he would find out everything going forward, but that was not going to help him now. The guard escorting him paused in the lobby and looked at him with something like pity. "Pretty clear to me you did not realize you were sending out the wrong signals. You seem to have figured you're going to be paying big time for that huh?" Ezra exhaled, realizing he had actually been holding his breath. "The problem is, Dom warned me not to let anyone come near me, but I did not expect anything like the advances made by that neanderthal. Given the simple fact that these gentlemen need Dom's good will I never imagined they would try and engage in any questionable activity. It seems ridiculous now in retrospect but I just thought he was testing to make sure I was loyal to Dom. I thought that since I managed to get myself arrested by being foolish enough to sneak off untagged, that maybe they would think they needed proof of my trustworthiness. I never imagined that anyone would try and engage in any kind of sexual advance. In all fairness I was clearly warned of the consequences to myself should anyone try something. I just did not give the described penalty the consideration it deserved because I assumed nothing was likely to happen, and I really want this deal to go through. I thought this would be an opportunity to improve things between Dom and I instead I have just made things worse!." Ezra could hear the quaver in the voice with the last statement and wished there was more acting involved both in how he felt and his comment. There was more truth in his statement than he was comfortable with. The guard was definitely sympathetic now. The guard paused and asked Ezra if he wanted a couple minutes. Ezra thanked him for the consideration but indicated he did not think the delay would do anything but make him more nervous. He did have one request though. "Could you tell him what happened please. I feel like such an incredible moron that it would help not to have to repeat the story."

Dom watched Ezra approach holding the expected package but with a guard at his side. That alone would have told him something went wrong but the fact that Ezra would not meet his eyes told him the rest of the story. For the guard to be escorting him meant someone had made a serious pass at Ezra, someone who knew what he was and who he belonged to and felt comfortable approaching him anyway. Which meant Ezra had allowed someone close enough for it to happen. Dom waited quietly for the guard to come over. As soon as Ezra was within reach he pounced, grabbing him and forcing him down over the hood of the car in one quick move. His other hand swept down, knocking away Ezra's hands from bracing on the hood as they came up automatically. He held Ezra down with the one hand until he felt his body relax in acceptance and then released him and turned to the guard. "Tell me". The guard's story was no real surprise, it was exactly what he had been afraid of when he tried to tell Ezra the rules were much stricter in jail. Finally the recitation ended, "I do not think your little one meant to lead him on really. Just wanted the deal too much. He mentioned wanting to gain some ground back with you after the fiasco a week ago. I don't think he knows the rules here really. He was really sorry back there, I would say real scared too, best thing you took over like that." Dom nodded and thanked the guard for his help the guard stood back a bit but did not move away Dom realized that he was standing solidly between the car and the camera that he could see on the side of the jail. Dom raised an eyebrow in question and guard just shrugged. "Richards will be there now in the guard booth. I do not think he deserves the satisfaction." Dom turned towards Ezra, no use stalling, it had to be done, might as well get it over with.

Ezra's fists clenched as his hands lay against the hood of the car. He wanted to just push up and run or fight. His teammates did not understand how he could just lie there and allow someone to spank him. Sometimes he wondered himself. He had not intended to go through with activating the contract when he first signed it, but then there had been Dom and he had been willing to take him any way he could get him. He had hoped initially that Dom would not demand this of him. That maybe they could have the appearance of the contract and not the reality. However for better or worse Dom was a racer heart and soul and for them this relationship was all about control. It helped that Dom had no desire to control his wardrobe, his time, or his relationships or force him to kneel or be respectful. However he had not been able to convince Dom to do away with these physical punishments altogether. Ignoring their initial play acting for Turturo Ezra had really only been punished a few times previous to this case, despite occasional threats. The first time was when he had driven Dom round the bend arguing with Mia and then a couple of times when Dom was enforcing his rules about keeping Ezra safe. In a way Ezra knew Dom implementing it in their relationship was partially his fault. Dom had become used to punishing him when they were play acting during the Turturo case. Once Dom found that he honestly disliked punishment enough that whenever it was used it he never repeated the behavior that was enough of a counterargument to invalidate anything he said. He had in effect handed Dom an excellent control tool, there was no way he could expect Dom not to use it. Dom took his role of protector extremely seriously and to Dom that meant punishment when he stepped out of line.

Ezra thought back to the conversation he had once had when JD had asked him how he could bear to allow Dom to punish him. Whether he felt as though Dom was abusing him. He had been somewhat surprised that JD had been the one to figure out just how much he hated being punished, but he did not mind explaining. JD had waited until they were alone so he had called the other members of the team together to explain his thoughts. He really did not particularly mind discussing it but he did not want to have to do it more than once. He explained that for him it was rather like enrolling in the military where you signed away some of your rights for a more important cause. JD's rejoinder that you did not give up rights in the military was greeted by chuckles from Chris and Buck who rapidly explained that not only did you give up the right to free speech you also gave up the right to self defense. Of course toys normally got protection as their side of this bargain, though in his case of course he did not need the protection. However to Dom providing that protection was the only way to ensure that Ezra got something from the contract. JD had been puzzled at that and had interrupted with the comment that Dom wasn't around whenever Ezra was at work so how was he providing protection then. Buck had laughed at that and explained. "Haven't you noticed that Ezra has never been alone since the trial period expired. In fact the only time he was alone before that was when they were staging an opportunity for him to be grabbed, and technically then he was running from Dom. Dom basically has adopted us as family. We're Dom's representatives, Ezra's bodyguards. Think about it, he's not even driven to work by himself since he signed that contract." JD had been surprised. He had not paid attention to the fact that someone else always came in with Ezra because Ezra had not started coming in earlier. He had just assumed that Vin or Josiah or whoever it was coming in with Ezra had been running late that day. Ezra explained that for Dom the only way to maintain his self respect was to ensure that Ezra at least got some of the promise of the contract and in his opinion keeping him safe included even preventing him from endangering himself by his own actions.

Ezra's musing was interrupted when suddenly he heard Dom say his name "Ezra Standish look at me." Ezra allowed his eyes to meet Dom's. God he hated it so much when Dom was angry with him. "Is this man correct? Did you allow one of the prisoners to approach you?" Ezra wished he he could deny it. "Yes sir, I'm sorry sir" "Did I tell you what would happen if someone tried to make a move on you because you let him get too close?" Ezra shivered "Yes sir, you told me. 50 strokes with your belt" "Do you have anything to say in your defense." "No, just that I did not mean to lead him on. I am sorry." "If you are not, you will be. Pull down your pants and underwear" Ezra flushed bright pink but did as he was told. He felt the first stroke fall and could not help a gasp. He was obviously not completely over the spanking from last week and Dom did not seem to be pulling his strokes even the least bit. He heard the swish of the belt and then a crack as a line of pain was laid across his buttocks. Again and again the belt descended, it felt like it was going on forever. Finally Ezra could not help crying out. Oh he wanted this to be over, Ezra nearly pleaded for it to stop. He was crying in great sobs now, that he could not help, but he refused to plead, not least because Dom was not doing this by choice and could not stop if he wanted to. It would not be fair to beg him to stop. Finally the belt stopped. Ezra heard Dom behind him breathing hard and pushed up and turned. He looked at Dom and could not stand the expression of pain in his eyes. He flung himself into Dom's arms with a cry, promising "I'll never ever do it again, I'm sorry" Dom's arms came and wrapped around him and to his relief he heard honest amusement in Dom's voice as he turned to the guard and said "Guess he does not hold it against me." Ezra felt Dom pull up his underwear but he removed his jeans with a quick explanation that they were too rough and too tight. Ezra found he did not object since even the light touch of the soft cotton boxers was a little painful. Dom pulled a soft cushion from the trunk when he tossed in the jeans and Ezra blushed but was sincerely grateful. He perched carefully on the cushion. Dom got in beside him and looked over at his tear stained face. "Can you please try not to do anything to get in trouble for the next couple weeks?" Ezra sincerely promised that he would not engage in anything questionable at least for the foreseeable future.


	6. The drop

Following Travis' suggestion that they place the "trigger happy policemen" at the outskirts of Washington Park was proving to be more challenging than Chris had anticipated. Dom had simply laughed at him when he complained and suggested that they trade places so that Chris could get all the lectures on how to correctly protect Ezra and why they did not need to cooperate with the federal agencies. Unfortunately for Dom the police remembered Ezra and since only the Denver police chief was aware of his position on Chris' team the majority of the officers had become convinced that some federal agents were blackmailing Dom into cooperating. Since Ezra did not want to share the information that he was, and had always been, a federal agent more widely, Dom was stuck with a persistent combination of lectures and offers of asylum from the feds. Finally Chris managed to enlist Dom's help in convincing the police officers to form the outer ring of defense, mostly by promising that if the rogue agent got that far and Ezra was anywhere near his vicinity they could gun him down with no warning. Chris was left feeling that police officers were certainly more bloodthirsty than he remembered. Finally everything was in position and all that was needed was to wait for their rogue agent to show. Chris really hoped that Ezra kept his promises and stayed out of trouble. Some of the byplay he had seen between him and Dom did not bode at all well for Ezra if he indulged in any of his usual risky tricks and he did not want Dom blaming any of that on him.

Ezra watched the car approach and hoped that this time it was Hopkins. He had the last name, a vague description and a plate number, but apparently the plate was fake because DMV records did not have that plate assigned to anyone, agent or not, who worked in the Denver FBI office. This one looked promising the driver had dark hair and was sporting one of the ubiquitous FBI suits. Finally the plates were close enough to be seen, and thankfully they were a match. The car pulled to a stop in the parking lot next to where he was standing and the man got out. He was taller than Ezra but thin and Ezra relaxed a bit, he did not look like someone who would readily get in a fight. Ezra walked forward and placed the package on the hood of the car without a word. Then he backed off a bit so that he was out of reach. Hopkins walked around the car towards the package and picked it up and then made a beeline for Ezra who immediately started backing away. "Hey, come on don't you want the money. I don't imagine anyone will be too pleased if you run off without it." Ezra paused, without the money the transaction was not completed and proving the case would be much more difficult. Hopkins opened the car door, "Have a seat, I don't want to conduct a transaction of this magnitude in public." Ezra froze at that. Dom would absolutely have a fit if he got in the man's car and he could not even count the number of times Chris had insisted he never do anything of that sort. However he really did not want to blow this case. Hopkins smiled obviously thinking he knew the reason for Ezra's hesitation. "Oh yeah. They warned me you might be um, sore" and to Ezra's chagrin he pulled out a cushion out of the back seat and placed it on the passenger chair for Ezra. Ezra flushed and then, ignoring the yelling Chris was doing in his ear to "Back off now Ezra dammit!", sat in the car and watched as Hopkins wandered around to the other side and got into the car next to him.

Hopkins could understand why the little guy sitting in the car was nervous given what his partners had told him. The guy looked young too, couldn't be much older than early 20s so he felt bad about pushing him. However he had not managed to supplement his income for the last couple of years by being careless enough to hand cash over in an obvious public location. Hopkins glanced around idly as the guy took the money and noticed something strange, the cop who normally wandered by around now, the unvoiced reason for his request that they complete the transaction in the car, had not come by. Maybe the replacement was late, or maybe there was another reason for the toy to be nervous, maybe the cops had blackmailed him into turning on his owner. He wasn't sure how this toy thing worked. Now he wasn't sure whether the guy was trustworthy. His hand shot out and grabbed the little guy by the wrist, and was astonished to have the guy pull hard and punch him in the face much harder than he would have expected. Fortunately in the small space he managed to hang on long enough to pull his gun and put it to the guy's head. "Freeze kid. I don't want to have to hurt you" to his astonishment the kid began to laugh "Wonderful. Mr Hopkins if there was any chance whatsoever that I could have talked myself out of what is likely to be the worst punishment Dominic has ever administered you have certainly ensured that to now be impossible. I was not supposed to get in the car for specifically this reason but somehow I mistakenly felt that at least with a FBI agent I could expect a certain degree of professionalism." Finally the toy looked at him calmly. "Mr Hopkins despite the current evidence to the contrary I do not believe you are actually crazy, which leaves the only rational possibility that you are completely ignorant of what you have just managed to accomplish. May I respectfully suggest you call your partners and explain what is going on here and get some input from them. I believe you will find their perspective enlightening." Hopkins shrugged and then dialed. It would be interesting to see what his partners made of this. Grenadine picked up on the first ring and Hopkins explained the situation to him. There was a pause on the other end of the line and then Grenadine started screaming "Are you completely out of your mind! Do you have any idea what you have done. There is no way I am going to have anything to do with this, I told you what he was, the cops would not have touched this with a ten foot pole you could have handed over the damn guns with no packaging right in front of them. Now they will just gun you down like a mad dog. I have nothing to do with you and nothing to do with this. Hell I'm calling the goddamn cops on you myself. You let that toy out of the car and you better start running. Maybe since he's alive they won't simply kill you, though his owner certainly will. Hell, I'm going to pay someone to come kill you myself just for the aggravation!" Then to Hopkins astonishment the phone went dead and Grenadine would not pickup again.

Chris decided he was going to kill Ezra. Then he looked over at Dom and an evil grin came to his face. Given how livid Dom looked perhaps he would not do Ezra the favor of killing him. Dom would probably be way more effective at communicating their mutual frustration with his risk taking, especially given the result had been Ezra ending up with a gun to his head. He could see Ezra talking rapidly to the rogue agent, it figured, nothing would keep Ezra quiet. Chris was starting to wish he had kept both the ear piece and the mic so he could hear what was going on. He was left missing a lot being unable to hear Ezra. It was possible that Ezra might actually have obeyed if Dom had ordered him not to get in the car. However given Dom's current state, his fury if Ezra had disobeyed him did not bear thinking about so it was just as well Chris had retained control of the microphone. Hopkins pulled out a cell phone and started dialing, why on earth would he feel the need to make a phone call now of all times? Then he heard laughter, honest and sincere from Dom, "I don't believe it, OK you're right he is a wonderful undercover agent who can talk anyone into anything." Chris did not understand but Dom filled him in "I recognize the voice. That's Grenadine, he's going to go absolutely apeshit." Chris listened as the voice on the phone got louder and louder, to the point that it was audible even to him just standing beside Dom. At the comment "I'm going to pay someone to come kill you myself!" he relaxed. "All teams prepare to move out!" It didn't take long after that for Ezra to step out of the car and then the ATF teams moved in. Chris was the first on their team to reach Ezra as he walked away from the car. He could see his eyes darting around warily, he could just bet Ezra was looking out for Dom. He wrapped one arm around Ezra and manhandled him over to the surveillance van. Dom was waiting inside the van completely silent. Chris looked between the two men then turned his attention to Dom. "Can you wait until we finish up here? I'd like to see if we can get any information out of Hopkins and debrief the other teams and then well we can take you guys anywhere you want to go." Ezra looked like where he wanted to go was anywhere Dom wasn't but he said nothing. Dom however perked up. "Tell you what I'll speed up your little interrogation session with that Hopkins guy and then we can get out of here sooner." His eyes fastened on Ezra "Sit!" Ezra moved to the nearest chair and sat without even attempting to say anything "Stay!" Ezra blushed at that but again made no comment. Dom walked out of the van without a backward glance. "You coming Chris?"

Dom was looking forward to scaring the hell out of Hopkins. Hell he planned to beat on him a bit too. Nothing fatal or permanent. Though part of him wanted to, Dom knew he was never going to beat anyone that badly again. He needed to get some of his anger out though and it seemed appropriate that Hopkins assist with that particular task. He could see that the ATF agents had finished bagging the evidence and had already handed Hopkins over to the cops for processing. That made him happy, the cops all knew him and would not interfere, hell they would not interfere if he killed the guy. He stalked forward eagerly and addressed his question to the captain in charge. "Please tell me he has not talked yet." The cop turned and then a slow smile spread over his face. "No, Mr Toretto he has not. If you could help with that we would appreciate it." "Not a problem" Dom stepped forward fists swinging. It took perhaps a minute, maybe two, before Hopkins broke, "I'll tell you, whatever you want, get this madman off me!" Dom got in a couple more punches and then backed off. "We would like to know who else in the FBI is involved." Chris got that question out immediately. It was the mastermind of this plot they needed. Hopkins started babbling about "Director Thomson" not his immediate superior but just one step down from the agency head in Denver. One of the policemen nearby was busily taking notes. Director huh, Dom knew the Directors had signed the agreement with the council and were involved in the negotiations with the police on how to train their agents on dealing with toys. He was tired of this case, he might as well give them a hand. "What's his number?" Hopkins looked confused. "His cell number, what is it?" Hopkins babbled it out. Dom picked up Hopkins phone from the evidence pile and dialed. "Is this Thomson? Ok listen well. Your little partner in crime here just attempted to kill my goddamn toy. So here is what you are going to do. You're going to come down here to Washington Park and turn yourself in to the cops and plead guilty to whatever they decide to charge you with or I'm going to lay charges with the council against you. Hell just for good measure before you do it you're going to reinstate my brother in law Brian O'Conner with full accumulated benefits. You understand me." The cursing on the other end continued for a full minute. Dom let him finish and then when he wound down asked again. "You going to come down here? Because I'm not feeling in a particularly merciful mood after you imbeciles assaulted my toy and then tried to kill him. If I wanted to I could come and kill you myself and I'd never see the inside of a courtroom." "Mr Toretto," the voice was smooth, "perhaps we could negotiate. I have several millions in cash ..." Dom cut him off. "Coming. Down. Here. Yes or No?". "I'm coming." It was flat but very certain, Dom was not surprised, a guy like that would have a wife and children. He would never report such a man to the council. He would not be responsible for the consequences but the director would not know that and the men who held toys hardly had a reputation for being compassionate. He hung up the phone. Hopkins stared at him open mouthed. Dom turned to him "You're absolutely sure no one else in the FBI is involved?" Hopkins nodded and then articulated the sentiment. "Not to my knowledge." Dom turned. "Fine, let's go Chris. I have business with a toy who needs to learn a few things that I aim to teach him."


	7. Punishment again

Ezra waited in the van. He was not in any particular hurry for Dom to return. It was pretty clear that the case was complete from his perspective and he had great faith that Dom would be able to convince Hopkins to part with any and all information he had on other corrupt agents in the FBI. He was not sure how much the police would let Dom get away with but he had a feeling he would have a pretty long leash. When this was over he was going to have to do some proper research into that toy protocol stuff Dom had discussed. Just because Dom didn't hold him to it did not mean he should not have some idea what he was ignoring. He shivered, some part of him wanted to just dash from the van and run for it until Dom calmed down. He had been strapped pretty severely yesterday and he was not entirely sure Dom particularly cared to take that into account right now. The only problem with avoiding him was that it emphatically would not work. Dominic was the kind of man who would just get angrier at that kind of behavior, particularly from him. This case had been one fiasco after another from his perspective. It was almost amusing that from an external and professional perspective it had been a complete success. They had identified the producers of the guns and most of the guards backing them. They had closed down the distribution network. It was just personally that it had been a miserable experience. This case had been too personal to him. Somewhere in his mind if he could find a real corrupt FBI agent he could prove that he had not been one. Now that it was all over he could see how ridiculous that had been. No one he cared about believed the rumors about him, and no one who believed them would take this as evidence that he had not been corrupt. Now in trying to close the case at the expense of everything else he had broken a promise to Dom. Never in his life before had he given his word and then broken it and now, he had done it with Dom of all people. He supposed he could walk out of the van and keep going, his teammates liked Dom and thought they were good together but if he was to break it off ... he could not even finish the thought. The idea made him feel as though the air was too thin to breathe. So OK he was not going to leave Dom. That revelation did not give him comfort. Perhaps now that he had proven untrustworthy Dom would not want him any more. He knew Dom had trust issues after his experiences with Brian. He felt his heart sink the idea seemed all too plausible to him right now. Suddenly he had a brain wave. He would call Mia perhaps she could convince Dom to keep him, certainly she felt guilty enough, in fact maybe she would have a way out of this. Thankfully his phone was in his pocket.

Mia answered the phone with her usual cheer, it made Ezra feel better just hearing someone who was clearly happy. "Mia, do you have a minute. I would appreciate your guidance on a matter of some importance to my well being." He explained the situation to her, in the interest of fairness leaving nothing out. There was a very long silence on the other end of the phone and then a long breath. "Ray, I am going to refrain from yelling at you because I'm sure you're going to get more than enough of that from Dom any minute now. I promise one thing though. At this point nothing on earth would persuade Dom to let you go. That said I do have one question. Do you think Dom will be able to impress upon you the absolute necessity of taking all possible care to ensure you do not get yourself killed?" Ezra shifted uncomfortably OK it did not particularly sound like Mia was interested in helping him get out of anything. "I would have to say that he would be able to do that yes." "Good!" Ezra glanced up and his eyes met Dom's. "Sir!" he breathed out. He would have sworn that he wasn't that distracted. Dom stepped further into the van, and Ezra's entire team filtered in behind him. This was really not good. Dom nodded towards the phone "Mia or Brian?" Ezra did not think it a particularly good omen that Dom knew him that well. "Mia." "She want to talk to me?" "Mia would you like to talk to Dom?" At her confirmation he handed the phone to Dom. His side of the conversation was not particularly enlightening but not comforting either. "Yeah. Yeah that's right. That was my reaction as well. Oh don't worry I will. Love you too. Give our best to Brian and Jack. Bye."

Dom clicked off and placed the phone on the table top welded to the van wall. Dom's voice sounded curious and there was a promising hint of softness but there was still that thread of rage burning underneath it. "Did you think she would take your side? Try and convince me that it wasn't that bad? She loves you now. You belong to us, to our family, don't you know that by now." Ezra did not know what to say to that. "I ... I was not sure maybe, sometimes if you make a mistake, if it's a big one. You need to make preparations for some time of reflection until you..." He caught himself. He had gathered from some clandestine surveillance of conversations between Dom and his team that Dom's opinion of his mother was pretty much that she was worthless. He had a feeling that finishing that sentence would not help matters much. He felt himself proven right when Dom finished the sentence for him. "Until you are useful again right? Sunny!" Dom paused and took a deep breath. "For the record you can think of yourself as always useful to me, pretty much no matter what. I will never stop regretting that I let anything come between us and I would change it in a heartbeat if I could. You are not capable of doing the kinds of things it would take for me to write you off. Hell Ezra didn't you even bother to read the contract. You can walk away for any reason or none. For me to break the contract permanently, get rid of you. It's not even clear it's possible." Something in Ezra eased at that pronouncement but he could not help pushing even now under these circumstances. "You could stop wanting me though. You could stop ... you could decide that while you necessarily had to ensure my welfare that perhaps a greater depth of emotion or affection was not something that was strictly required." "God Sunny! Ezra listen to me you belong to me that's never going to change. I swear it to you on my father's grave. Nothing is going to change that ever, no matter what. Ezra Standish, you have no idea how appropriate that your nickname is to me now. You came and showed me the way out of darkness. You are my light, my sun" Ezra could see the honesty, the sincerity on Dom's face. Suddenly the little problem of just what Dom was going to do to him became just that, small, insignificant. He realized with a flash of insight that he had been really afraid that Dom would write him off as a liar, as worthless, faithless more than anything else. That was what he was really wanting to run away from. The physical pain, well he could deal with that though he knew it would be extremely unpleasant. He was sure Dom would make sure it was effective as well. "I'm sorry. I did not intend to lie to you or break my promise and particularly not immediately. I underestimated just how much this case mattered to me. In the end it was foolish and pointless." Suddenly he grinned. "I realize that at this point my promise is worthless. I am sure you intend to ensure that I cannot even think of performing such an action again without dismissing it as not worth the cost. However nevertheless you do have my solemn promise that I will never again ignore Chris' instructions meant for my safety just to close a case."

Dom's expression was curious. "You have left me with a dilemma now Sunny. So what do you think I should do? Do I accept your word and forgo any punishment just to show you that you have my trust or do I punish you regardless to ensure that this whole incident is behind us?" Chris interjected "No. Dom it is not fair to ask Ezra to decide such a thing. You have to determine why you punish him in the first place. Is it a type of revenge for the pain he put you through? Is it to discourage future similar behavior? This is hardly the first time he has ignored his own safety in order to close a case, though I will accept his word that it will be the last. I will admit however that Ezra has had a tendency in the past to hold onto guilt. He does find it difficult to accept that forgiveness has been granted and with you he has been more able to let things go." Ezra appreciated the motivation behind Chris' intervention. It meant a lot to have Chris stand up for him but he had to set the record straight. "No Chris, I appreciate your attempt more than you can probably realize, but you are overlooking the context. I do not mind making the decision since I assumed the punishment would occur when I made the promise. My choice is to take the punishment if only because I assure you it will be easier on me to keep my word if I have the memory of what will happen if I do not. You are right though, I need to know Dominic's anger is gone. He also has a tendency to hold onto things and I essentially made him this same promise just yesterday, and then broke it. That is not something that Dominic takes lightly and I need him to forgive me. The surest way to achieve that is to take the punishment and be done with it. He needs the control and he needs me to pay for taking it from him."

Dom looked at Ezra, some of his anger had dissipated with the realization that Ezra knew what he had done was wrong, and understood the seriousness of breaking his promise. It left him able to think again. He turned to Ezra's team "Nathan if you prefer to wait outside..." Nathan took the invitation to leave with gratitude. The other team members had not been there before for any of Dom's punishments but Nathan had. He did appreciate the results, Ezra was far more careful than before, but knew how difficult it was to watch Ezra being hurt. He had been concerned before as he had not seen Dom that angry but now, while Dom was still furious he was not worried about him being out of control. Dom turned to the others "You may stay or leave as you please. If you are currently angry with Ezra for getting himself into such a dangerous situation this will help you let go of that. I warn you too this will hurt and sometimes he cries, though not easily, this will be one of those times." Buck and Josiah indicated that they would likely leave at some point and Chris growled a short "I'll stay" but JD and Vin turned to go. Dom allowed JD to leave but his arm shot out and blocked Vin's exit. "No." Vin's voice was a low growl, "You just told us to leave if we pleased." Dom looked at Vin and his voice was surprisingly gentle "You are too angry with him, angry enough that you want him to hurt, as he hurt you. You need to stay at least long enough to let that feeling go." Dom could not explain how he knew what Vin's feelings were except that they mirrored his own. He could let it go, but then he had reason to have learned how to release overwhelming anger, he was sure Vin had not.

To Ezra's surprise Dom allowed him the dignity of being able to stand against the wall. His surprise must have shown because Dom answered his unvoiced question. "You deserve some consideration for acknowledging your mistake." With no further comment he began using his belt, though Ezra could tell the strokes were lighter than normal in consideration of the whipping Ezra has suffered just the day before. Ezra held out as long as he could but the belt was hard, and his backside was already sore. To his extreme chagrin he was stifling sobs fairly rapidly. Once Ezra began tearing up Josiah and Buck left but, to Ezra's surprise, Vin and of course Chris stayed. Soon after his teammates left Ezra lost track of who was there and indeed anything else, as he was sobbing in earnest. This was easily the most painful punishment he had endured by far, but Dom was showing no signs of stopping, finally he abandoned his dignity and begged, "Please, Sir, no more, I won't do it again." Suddenly he heard Vin's voice, "I can forgive him now." Dom paused "That will do for now then." The belt rose and fell in one supremely hard stroke and then stopped. Ezra shivered at the promise that this was not done embedded in that innocuous little "for now" but he would take being done for today if that was all he could get.


	8. Epilogue : Research

Ezra knocked on Chris' door letting him know he was going down the hall to help team 8 finish up the creative fiction that was their paperwork. Ryan Kelly had requested Ezra's help when it became clear that his team were not sure what to leave out and what to make up for their report. Ezra had a long talk with Chris after the mission and had admitted that he had in his own words "Committed the cardinal sin of undercover work. I failed to do complete research on my role and then compounded the problem by ignoring the advice of my expert." Ezra was still not sure whether it was hubris or a lingering disinclination to allow his job and his personal life to merge too much. He suspected it was a little bit of both. He had not bothered to go beyond his initial basics and do the more detailed research on how he was supposed to behave as a toy or how others were supposed to treat him before this case, because Dom had not cared as long as he was not openly disrespectful in public or flirtatious. When the case came along it had felt too weird to start looking up something so personal only for his job. As soon as he had come back to work the day after the Hopkins bust he had spent that day, and the next couple researching everything possible about toys, with Chris' blessing. It didn't hurt that some of the research involved standing up reading papers in the file room. Last night was the first time Ezra had not gone home to face Dom's continued expression of his displeasure. He was profoundly grateful it was finally over, but sitting was still not at all comfortable. After the first day he had arrived in the office to find that Dom had purchased a state of the art standing desk and had it installed in his office. He had turned bright red at the sight but most of his team had thankfully refrained from commenting. Nathan had commented that the desk was better for him anyway and maybe they should all get one and had promptly been pelted with paper. Chris had solved team 7's problem by having Ezra write up all the reports and simply forward them to the relevant individual, so he had no objection to him now helping team 8, and probably subsequently team 5 when they got the courage to ask. Chris looked up at his knock and to his surprise waved for him to come in and close the door.

Chris looked up at Ezra's knock and decided abruptly to confront the issue head on. He waved Ezra inside and motioned him to close the door. Ezra looked curious but quietly closed the door without protest and ... that was the problem right there. Chris paused, unsure how to open the discussion. While he had no objection at all to Ezra being more careful this quiet shadow version of his undercover agent was making him very uncomfortable. He knew the others felt the same way as well. "Mr Larabee? You requested my presence?" Well at least Ezra was as impatient as normal. That gave Chris the confidence to ask his question. "Ezra, you've been somewhat more quiet than usual the last few days. Is it something we can help with or do you perhaps need some time off?" There, that was about as neutral and non confrontational as he could be. Ezra stared at him and then exhaled slowly "You know, there were some good things about not having friends at work. They never asked you about personal topics or even noticed. Chris, really I'm fine, I just," he flushed bright red suddenly "I just, well let's just say that Dominic did not feel that one round of punishment would be a sufficient deterrent to ensure that I never again decided to ignore your safety guidelines in order to ensure a successful outcome and leave it at that." Chris gaped he had thought that the one punishment he had observed after the bust went down was incredibly intense and now Ezra was implying that, "Are you saying he disciplined you again like he did at the park?" Ezra looked away. "Chris, you perhaps made it a little too clear that this was not the first incident in which I might have skirted the rules in what could be interpreted to be an unsafe manner. Furthermore during the incident in question you repeated your request that I not enter the car and then that I remove myself from it a significant number of times. Given that the end result of my ignoring your request was being put in a somewhat precarious position. Dominic felt that perhaps my ability to ignore your requests should be limited to non safety issues. So for example if I do not feel the need to appear at a 9am meeting, or wish to submit an expense request which is perhaps higher than you would wish that is acceptable. However if you indicate that I should not enter a building I should treat your requests more like absolute orders." He looked back at Chris clearly embarrassed. "He felt that the point needed to be driven home with more force than one session would perhaps allow, so in fact he only stopped ah, pressing his point home so to speak last night. This has left me somewhat distracted and perhaps less verbose than usual but I am sure the situation will correct itself." Chris was stunned "So you're saying you're actually going to listen to me, well on a limited set of issues at least." "I believe that would be the most prudent course of action for me going forward." Chris felt a surge of satisfaction. "I don't suppose Dom would expand his discipline sessions to the rest of the team would he? Or at least to Vin and Buck?" Ezra looked startled and then laughed as hard as Chris had ever heard. His eyes were sparkling when he replied, still chuckling. "I'm afraid Dominic is limited to me. You will have to be content with only one team member who listens to you for now."


End file.
